Occasionally, I’m reminded of the need for the leadership of any company to have insight into what everyone at the organization is doing. Recently, I read this article from Bryan Clagett at Geezeo recounting his experience with opening a bank account at a branch. One item stood out for me. The empty office he encountered when he first entered the branch shocked me. An empty office, to me, promotes a feeling of drudgery and missed opportunities. In a business that considers their primary differentiator to be customer/member service, it is hard for me to comprehend how the leadership of this FI missed it.
Noticing is the first step in solving the optics of this type of situation. Early in my career I encountered a wonderful solution to the issue of optics. At this organization, all Executives were required on a quarterly basis to complete a “Day in the Life” training session (DITL). Each Executive was tasked with engaging every department in the organization to see how they worked on a day-to-day basis. They were required to sit down with employees from every department to observe, discuss and to better understand how they did their jobs.During the DITL training events, it was not uncommon to see the CEO sitting with reps in the call center, listening to calls, taking calls, learning. Remote employees were required to complete this training every year, sometimes multiple times per year.The insights gained in this type of training event allowed the Executives to manage the optics of the entire organization. They understood, at a ground level, what the challenges were for each and every department. By simply engaging all of the departments they could quickly work towards solutions.
I’m a big believer in the message Brian promoted in this article around “Frictionless” solutions. My company, Procurity, is uniquely positioned to assist in successful software solutions that create the Frictionless environment he promotes. I also believe that for Community Banks and Credit Unions to compete in today’s environment that they need to take some time to notice what others are seeing.
